Cuba Sending Two Top Prospects To U.S. On Can-Am Trip

Most of the top talent in Cuba has already left the country, but two of the best young prospects still on the island will travel to Canada and the United States next month.

Cuba’s 28-man roster for its 19-game tour through the independent Can-Am League includes Luis Robert and Julio Pablo Martinez, a pair of highly regarded young outfielders.

Martinez, 20, is a center fielder for Guantanamo who batted .292/.391/.477 with 12 home runs, 44 walks and 58 strikeouts in 350 plate appearances in Serie Nacional this past season, which ended last month. Martinez is a lefty with a strong mix of athleticism, speed and power, though there is a fair amount of swing-and-miss in his game.

Robert is still 18 but scouts have followed him for years at international tournaments. Consistently one of the best players in Cuba’s junior national leagues, Robert played center field on Cuba’s 18U World Cup team last summer and was the primary left fielder this past season for Ciego De Avila, which won the Serie Nacional championship. Robert is a righthanded hitter who stands out for his physical 6-foot-3 frame, athleticism and power with good speed for his size and a strong track record of hitting. Robert batted .304/.382/.410 with 32 walks and 46 strikeouts in 317 plate appearances this past season.

In Baseball America’s April 2015 rankings of the Top 20 players in Cuba, Martinez ranked No. 7 and Robert was No. 11. Between what they have shown over the past year and the number of players who have left Cuba since then (10 of those top 20 players are gone, including seven of the top 10), Martinez and Robert are now two of the five best players remaining in Cuba in terms of major league potential. BA subscribers can read more detailed scouting reports on both players here.

Joining them on the trip is Guillermo Aviles, who is listed as an infielder. Aviles has mostly been a corner outfielder recently, though he has experience at first base as well. Aviles is a lefty who batted .347/.436/.490 with 47 walks and 49 strikeouts in 365 plate appearances last season for Granma. He’s 23 and has five seasons in Cuba, so he would be exempt from the international bonus pools if he ever decided to pursue a contract with a major league team.

The rest of the hitters are mostly veteran players who won’t attract much interest from major league scouts, as is nearly the entire pitching staff. One exception is 28-year-old righthander Vladimir Garcia, who has pitched on several Cuban national teams. Garcia had a 2.18 ERA in 95 innings as a starter for Ciego De Avila in 2015-16, though his 57-44 K-BB mark wasn’t as impressive. Garcia has battled shoulder problems in recent years, though he was touching 95 mph at the Caribbean Series in the Dominican Republic in February. Livan Moinelo, a little 20-year-old lefty with a light fastball but good secondary pitches, is also on the pitching staff.

One notable omission from the team is 22-year-old Ciego de Avila righthander Yunier Cano, who is still in Cuba but was not on the pre-selection roster. Outfielders Alfredo Despaigne and Jose Adolis Garcia also are not on the team because both of them are playing in Japan.

The Cuban team will open its Can-Am schedule in Canada on June 9 with a four-game series at Quebec, followed by three-game series against Trois-Rivieres (June 14-16) and Ottawa (June 17-19). The club will than travel to the United States for three-game series in New Jersey against Sussex County (June 21-23) and in New York at Rockland (June 24-26) before playing three games at New Jersey from June 28-30.

Here is the entire Cuban roster.

Catchers
Yosvani Alarcon, Las Tunas
Olber Pena, Pinar Del Rio
Osvaldo Vazquez, Ciego De Avila

Infielders
Guillermo Aviles, 1B/OF, Granma
Yorbis Borroto, SS, Ciego De Avila
Jefferson Delgado, 3B, Matanzas
Raul Gonzalez, 2B/3B, Ciego De Avila
Yunior Paumier, 3B/2B, Holguin
Yasiel Santoya, 1B, Matanzas
Juan Carlos Torriente, 2B/3B, Industriales

Outfielders
Yoelvis Fiss, Ciego De Avila
Julio Pablo Martinez, Guantanamo
Lazaro Ramirez, Villa Clara
Luis Robert, Ciego De Avila

Pitchers
Freddy Alvarez, Villa Clara
Vladimir Banos, Pinar Del Rio
Lazaro Blanco, Granma
Erlis Casanova, Pinar Del Rio
Yaifredo Dominguez, Pinar Del Rio
Dachel Duquesne, Ciego De Avila
Jose Angel Garcia, Artemisa
Vladimir Garcia, Ciego De Avila
Ulfrido Garcia, Santiago de Cuba
Miguel Lahera, Artemisa
Frank Medina, Pinar Del Rio
Livan Moinelo, Pinar Del Rio
Yosvani Torres, Pinar Del Rio
Yoani Yera, Matanzas